Conquered
by Chibiyu
Summary: It is never too late to become who you were meant to be. Sometimes, all it takes it the ultimate stupid decision in order to set things right. Sometimes, all it takes is to run away. (A "what if Hiccup and Toothless left Berk" story. A non-original plot with an original twist). Rated R for future gore and violence.
1. Prologue: Leaving the Past Behind

_**Conquered**_

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_It is never too late to become who you were meant to be. Sometimes, all it takes it the ultimate stupid decision in order to set things right. Sometimes, all it takes is to run away. _

_A "what if Hiccup and Toothless left Berk" story. A non-original plot with an original twist. Hope you all enjoy it. _

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"No!"

The axe that had been so near Toothless's neck, barely stopped an inch from Hiccup's nose.

Stoic looked to his son, surprise and pain in his face as he watched his son cover the Night Fury's head with his own body.

"Step aside," the Chief growled as he gave his useless son the best glare he could muster.

But Hiccup didn't budge. In fact, his glare was even more intimidating than Stoic's.

"Hiccup," he growled, but the rest of his sentence was lost to the muffled roar of the pinned dragon. Every Viking watched as Hiccup turned and knelt, hand on the beast's nose.

"Thanks, bud," he whispered. "And I'm sorry."

The dragon made a cooing nose, eyes soft as they looked at the boy.

"Traitor!" Stoic yelled. "You'll die with this beast."

Toothless's eyes instantly snapped over to him and his pupils narrowed.

"Chief!" Astrid shouted as she forced her way in front of him. "Hiccup's right! That Nightmare wasn't going to hurt him until you startled it!"

"Are you blaming me for _this?!" _

Astrid instantly backed down, eyes on the way Stoic's fists whitened from his grip on the weapon.

"Sir, please," she tried again, head bowed.

"You tried to turn her against us too?" the man hissed to his son as he pushed Astrid aside. "Hiccup, this is your worst mistake yet."

Hiccup shook his head as he stood to face his father. "Dad," he breathed.

"You're not my son."

A visible shard cut through Hiccup's chest; his eyes widened and mouth fell open as he searched for the lie that wasn't there.

"Dad..."

"Lock him up. I'll finish this devil."

But no one moved to grab Hiccup. They were all rooted by the shock of his event; a stir running through the crowd as they pondered both sides.

"Listen to me," Hiccup tried, but his dad cut him off by raising his weapon and pointing it at the fishbone of a boy.

"Not a word," he threatened. "You've thrown your lot in with them. You're not a Viking. You have no right to speak."

"The dragons will just keep attacking if you don't listen!"

"ENOUGH!"

Silence fell upon the arena.

Stoic looked to the young boy, face as impassive as he could make it although the corner of his lip twitched with the sorrow he held back. "You've betrayed us, Hiccup. You know the punishment for this."

"Stoic," Goober tried s he stepped forward.

"No Gobber."

"He's your son!"

Stoic shook his head. "Not anymore."

"You can't just kill 'im!"

Stoic turned to face his lifelong friend. "Are you ordering me? I am your Chief, Gobber!"

The blacksmith glanced to Hiccup and made a subtle gesture towards the Night Fury.

"And I am your friend, Stoic. Lock the boy away for the night and sleep on it. He could help us with the dragon raids; he seems to know their ways after all."

"He'll just get in the way. Worse than before, even! And I won't have a traitor living on my island!"

As this conversation progress into a heated argument, Hiccup managed to sneak through the crowd and pry open the Nadder's cage. With a head on her snout, Hiccup tamed her within seconds. He moved on to the other cages and followed suit.

"Think you can help us?" he muttered to the magnificent beasts.

The Nadder seemed to nod as it silently crept behind the unaware Vikings. She waited to spread her wings until Hiccup was, once again, at the side of his Night Fury. The Zippleback waited until Hiccup's hand touched Toothless before they began to spark. The Gronckle stayed back, too clumsy to be quiet. And the Nightmare began to growl as soon as the other Vikings realized their mistake of ignoring Hiccup.

As one unit, they all rushed forward and attacked. The Vikings were thrown off Toothless and Hiccup was quick to jump on.

"Come on, bud, we've got to go!" Hiccup urged. Toothless, though he itched to join the fight, pounced through the hole he had created to jump into the ring.

"Hiccup!" both Astrid and Stoic shouted out.

"Get back here!"

"Go! Fly!"

And Toothless flew, aware that his rider's eyes were not on the horizon, but on the quickly receding island. On the dragons that his rider had freed and now followed him faithfully. He was also aware of the salty water falling on his scales; the water that had nothing to do with the great open blue below or above him. But to the dragon, it was a time to rejoice. It was time for them to become what they were always meant to be. No more hiding. No more useless titles. They weren't devils, they weren't in the way or a waste of space. They weren't downed animals just waiting to die. Not anymore.

No.

They were masters of the skies.

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**Chibiyu: **_So I've had this idea since I first saw the movie in theaters. Ever noticed how Stoic moved to kill Toothless, but then Hiccup intervened with a shout? No? Well, that was the inspiration for this. Not very original, but I had to get it down. This story will have one more chapter before a major time skip (a HtTYD 2 time skip) occurs. _

_As always, thanks for reading. Until Next Update! _

_Shame-filled self-advertising: Like what you see? Check out my other (and more original) "How to" fiction: Leita Valhalla. _


	2. I Tried

**_I Tried_**

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Not even Gobber tried to talk to Stoic after the man walked from the arena with a steely face. Everyone felt the island of Berk shake form the force Stoic used to slam his front door. And everyone continued to stand in the barren area, shocked at what occurred.

"Astrid," Fishlegs started, his voice sounding out of place. "Was..." he started, unable to finish.

"Yes," Astrid answered a nod. "Hiccup is right about dragons."

"How can he be?" Snotlout interjected. "That Night Fury probably felt bad for the runt and decided that he wasn't worth the kill."

"Or," Tuff inserted with a raised hand. "Night Furies are just so cunning that they...befriend the runts?"

Ruff rolled her eyes. "Or use them as bait."

"I bet Hiccup's on his way to the dragon nest right now, about to be eaten!" Snot shouted, almost gleefully.

Ruff and Tuff rubbed their hands together. "I want to see that!" they both said.

"No, I do!" they argued with a growl.

"I want it more!" again, they said it together. Their banter continued with the bashing of their helmed heads.

Astrid looked at Fishlegs and shook her head. "He was right," she whispered before she turned and slowly left the arena.

"If we prove that?" Fishlegs surprised Astrid by running up behind her and following.

"Then the same will happen to us."

Fishlegs shook his head. "There has to be something we can do!"

Astrid pursed her lips. "I don't know what we _can _do, Fishlegs! I don't know what Hiccup does; to tame them. I only know that he is right. Toothless showed me that."

"Toothless?"

Astrid nodded once. "The Night Fury. He and Hiccup kidnapped me when I found them out. Took me flying. It was amazing, Fishlegs." She turned to look at him, face completely serious. "Everything we know about dragons is wrong."

Fishlegs blinked at this. "So, in the Ring, Hiccup was using his knowledge on dragons to win...without hurting them?"

Astrid nodded. "Exactly." She suddenly punched herself in the forehead and nearly screamed in aggravation. "Why didn't I pay more attention to him?"

"Because you normally don't care what people are doing?"

Astrid sighed at this all too accurate response. "Maybe I should have."

The pair grew quiet as they approached the village and passed under the Chief's house.

"I don't want to be here for the next raid," Fishlegs commented as they watched the premature steam exit the house's chimney.

Astrid's silence and watchful eyes were the strongest agreement she could give.

Inside the house, a large bang sounded, like someone throwing a hammer and smashing a table. The sound caused the two teens to jump and hurry on.

And indeed, that had been what they heard. Stoic didn't think anyone would be bothering him, or standing by his house, or else the Chief wouldn't have been so _undignified_. A Chief is supposed to be strong, brave, capable of handling anything. But the death of his wife was still a fresh scar to Stoic. And now that he had lost his son...

Stoic never believed that his heart had revived. Not until it hurt as much as it did now. It was like a Nightmare had ignited the organ, like Thor himself had struck it with lightning.

"I should have known," he breathed as he collapsed next to the shattered remains of the table he had built for Valhallarama. "He's always been...different. Useless. Curious," the Chief shook his massive head. "Hiccup was many things, but a traitor?"

He eyed his hammer again, fingers twitching to feel the comfort of its grip.

"Siding with the beasts that threaten our existence? Protecting them? Refusing to follow the Viking way?" Stoic sighed and ran his hand over his face. "I don't know what I did to deserve all of this. The gods must hate me."

He refused to look up when he said this, knowing that his gaze would be attracted to Hiccup's forever empty room.

"They must hate him, for giving him such a fate."

He allowed his head to fall and shoulder's to drop. His helmet fell from his head and clattered to the floor, horns pointed at the door.

"It was right for him to leave," Stoic sighed. "Right for me to do what I did. I have to think of the village, not one child. Those dragons would have killed my people, stolen our way of life, our food! They would have run us to the ground and left us homeless. He was misguided. Dragons are the enemy!"

Still, he stared at the horns.

"He was my son," he finally chocked out, letting everything that a Viking should be vanish from his frame until he turned into a broken shell of a man. "He was _my son. _And he betrayed us. Why, Hiccup?! Odin, answer me!" he whispered angrily, for he did not possess the strength to yell. "What did I do wrong? I raised him like my father did me. I allowed his _habits _and encouraged him to build in the forge. I _tried. _And this still happened."

He shook his head and pressed his eyes to his palms, resisting the urge to bawl. "I tried."

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Toothless landed on the snarling shores of Dragon Island, his cooing doing little to alleviate the harsh sounds of the island and the ache in his rider's heart. The Night Fury waited for his rider to descend from his back, but it soon became apparent that he was too numb to do even the simplest task. Toothless sighed to himself and walked to a shadowed spot at the base of the mountain.

The Queen, the dragon fathomed, wouldn't notice them until she called another gathering. That would happen after a raid. So tonight, at least, they would be safe here.

So Toothless gently crouched and rolled so Hiccup, through his self-induced shock, was able to go through the motions of getting off of Toothless's saddle. As soon as the young Viking's feet were on the ground, Toothless swept the boy close to him with a wave of his wing. Hiccup responded by burning his face into Toothless's neck and grabbing desperately onto him.

And Toothless, though he stayed still and instigated this, did not understand. Shouldn't his rider by happy that he was away from those savage killers? Shouldn't he be glad that he can be free to bond with other dragons and live to his full potential? Hiccup saw the world in the right kind of light – the kind that needed to be spread to other tribes. The kind that should never be suppressed.

And to top it off, his rider never had been truly happy when his feet were on Berk. It was only when Toothless and him took to the skies did Hiccup finally smile with his entire being. Only with him did the boy laugh and relax. It was never when he was on Berk. Never when he was with his own people.

So Toothless was clueless as to why his skin suddenly became warm with tears, but he allowed it. Humans were weird creatures when it came to emotions. Toothless wouldn't call them weak because of their lack of control with them, but he would call them unstable. But that was what made them humans; it wasn't because of their boring backs and lack of tails. If that were true, they would still have the heart of dragons. But they had minds inclined to act with their emotions. And their emotions were always in turmoil.

Except when they did something they loved. Like Hiccup loved flying. Like Hiccup loved to learn about Toothless and his race. Like the bond they had.

And this is why Toothless didn't understand his rider's tears.

"Thanks, bud," Hiccup whispered with a cracked voice after several minutes of this. "I guess I know how you feel now."

How Toothless felt? He felt free. There was nothing to hold him back. When he didn't have Hiccup, he had been the only Night Fury on Berk –the only one who managed to escape their Queen's mouth. It wasn't easy when she targeted the biggest threats to her. Not when she couldn't easily control Toothless. That is why he never stole food from Berk. He only went on the raids to protect his fellow dragons who had no choice but to steal and burn and destroy. He never brought back any food – another reason why the Queen disliked him.

But now Toothless had Hiccup. Now he wasn't lonely. Now, he was happy. Yes, at first he had despised his dependence on the boy, but it seemed like fate for them to come together. Something big was planned for the pair. Something had to be.

"But we still have each other, right?" Hiccup sighed to himself as he released Toothless's neck and turned to lean on him. "The gods must hate me."

Or love you enough to give you such a destiny, Toothless thought. His eyes were wide as he nudged his rider, trying to get him to change his mind. But the action was missed when a Gronckle decided to land in front of them, eyes curious.

Toothless growled, for he had hoped that the others wouldn't notice his human this quickly. After all, a Night Fury's presence should be imposing enough to cover Hiccup's scent.

Hiccup pushed himself from his dragon and eyed the brownish green creature. Behind it, a Nadder and Nightmare landed. Then a Zippleback.

"It's you guys," he breathed, hand out to touch the Gronkle's nose. "You...you followed us?"

The Gronckle allowed Hiccup's hand to rest on her face, her entire body content and trusting. Toothless, however, was not so quick to drop his guard. He tensed at every dragon his rider reached out to bon with and snarled when he reached the Nightmare. But the dragon had less than an intimidating stance this time around. All he needed was a respectful hand on his snout and no idiotic Viking Chief banging his hammer on the metal cage.

"Look Toothless," Hiccup almost smiled. "We're not so alone after all."

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**Chibiyu: **_Tell me in a review or PM what you want to see happen in future chapters. I may be able to work in a few suggestions. I think there will be one or two more chapters before forward time skip happens. Hicstrid will come, but it won't be a main focus point, so don't ask about that, okay? And keep it PG-13, please. Until Next Update! _


	3. Hope

**_Hope  
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"Okay," Hiccup whispered to himself, entire body covered in scratches as he climbed further up the dragons' nest. "Almost there." He pulled himself onto a ledge he hadn't previously raided and smiled at his prize. Nightmare scales. Dark ones too. He quickly gathered them together and tossed them over the edge. The grunt of his Gronckle friend told him of her catch.

"Good job, Meatlug!" He yelled as he looked over the rocky outcropping. The Gronckle buzzed below, a small woven basket on her back. Inside the basket, numerous dark scales could be seen. The dragon flew up higher, but had to keep her distance from the mountainside. Hiccup leapt over and landed unsteadily on her back, but she kept him in the air.

"Back to Toothless," he ordered gently as he sat. "Let's hope this is enough.

The two zipped down to their covered shelter where Toothless lay, eyes pinpointed on them.

"Hey bud," Hiccup greeted his friend.

Toothless stood and walked over, staying close to his rider's side as he untied the basket from Meatlug's back.

"Think these will do?"

Toothless eyes and scales and huffed. But he turned and exposed his prosthetic tailfin. Hiccup eyed the signed sides and ran his fingers over the flaked material.

"This has to be done, bud," he reassured as he took off the fin. Meatlug and Toothless watched him arrange the scales over the fin and nod to himself. "Alright, that's not too bad. What do you two think?"

It was multicolored and some scales were old and worn, but it would be fireproof.

"Now, how to do this?" He looked towards Toothless for an answer, but the Night Fury offered none. Instead, the Nightmare answered with a roar as it landed near the trio.

"Hookfang!" Hiccup exclaimed. "Why didn't I think to ask you?"

As if in response, the Monstrous Nightmare lit itself on fire. If Hiccup had it in him to smile. he would have. Instead, the boy knelt down and explained to Hookfang what he was trying to do. As an answer, the dragon nudged him aside and began to do something Hiccup couldn't see. Toothless, obviously unimpressed, walked around the great beast and pushed his rider further along the shore.

They stopped at the waterline, where Toothless started whining and gesturing to the air.

"I know, bud," Hiccup told him, hand on his dragon's head. "But we can't leave until this is done. We need to make sure that your tailfin won't need repairs. We don't know how long we will be flying or what we'll face. We need to be ready."

Toothless shook his head at this, eyes timidly looking over the mountain. It was only a matter of time now, the Night Fury thought to himself. Before she gets hungry again.

"We'll be out of here before the next raid," Hiccup gave an empty promise. "It will be fine."

_I hope, _Hiccup thought as a rock settled in his stomach. It _had _been awhile since the last raid. And that _thing _was big enough to eat Berk in one sitting and still crave more. It really was a race against time.

A roar sounded behind him as Hookfang was smacked in the head by a landing Nadder. The pair at the shoreline turned and watched Stormfly harass the bigger beast until she was the one in charge of the tailfin.

"Careful!" Hiccup warned them, but they continued to butt heads. Hookfang eventually gave in and allowed Stormfly to move forward and inspect whatever work he had been doing. Meatlug stayed back and watched, eyes following and memorizing every movement.

Hiccup allowed his gaze to wander until he settled on the two slumbering heads of a Zippleback. He shook his head, almost wanting to laugh at how their necks were still tangled from their earlier fight.

Almost. But not quite.

Not when the wound still gushed. Not when his damn was about to overflow with salted water. Not when he had just poorly sewed together his heart by throwing himself into this new, impossible project. But it was hard to forget. They, the dragons, were too much like them. Stormfly and Hookfang always fighting for power and the girl winning every time. Meatlug, so calm and gentle and happy to sit back and learn. And Hiccup couldn't even find one thing about Barf and Belch that didn't remind him of the tw -

No.

He shook his head until their names became a jumbled blur in a headache. He ran his hand across his face to wipe away the held back sorrow and took a deep breath.

"The sooner we get away," Hiccup breathed, his gaze betraying him and staring into the direction of his old island. "The better."

As if on cue, a rumble sounded from inside the mountain. Many dragons swarmed around the outside, but they all landed again, waiting for night to fall.

"The gods hate me," Hiccup sighed once again before he ran over to his friends. "How is the tail looking?"

The Nadder and the Nightmare backed away and nodded at their handiwork. It was crude and ugly, but they managed to heat the scales and pound them over the tailfin. Hiccup turned it over, his hands nearly getting burned. It wasn't perfect, but it would do as they needed. Some of the edges were still exposed, the seams were the fin bent were still showing, but it would keep away the bulk of the fire. It would do. At least, until Hiccup was able to do more with it.

Toothless had been close behind him and was still enough for Hiccup to rig up the slightly improved fin in a short time. The Night Fury eyed the abomination and was tempted to smack it on the ground until it shattered, but he restrained himself. If it would help them stay in the air, then Toothless would take it.

The ground shook again. The dragon rammed his nose into Hiccup's stomach, hard enough to make the teen double over and gasp. But the message was sent: we have to go.

Hiccup's hand had just reached Toothless's saddle when the mountain wall burst open. A tornado of dragons swarmed passed them, forcing the group to put distance between them. The grounded dragons roared as they were smacked around by wings and tails and talons, unable to get airborne without risk of injury in this madness.

Hiccup didn't even have a chance to yell out to his dragon before a pair of talons closed on his shoulder and threw him backwards. His yelp was covered by the multiple roars of terrified beasts. And he fell into the depths, body ramming into the downward spiral of rocks. Pain erupted every time he met a hard surface, but that wasn't what he was worried about. With his eyes closed and heart hammering as the imaginary picture of a large mouth reaching up to grab him filled his mind.

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_"That's for kidnapping me," his soft shoulder came in contact with her deadly fist. "And that's for everything else," she whispered after she pulled her lips from his. _

Three days. Three since that moment in the cove. Thee since her life had been turned upside from one simple dragon and one simple hiccup. Three days since she knew that everything she knew, was wrong. And now Hiccup was facing the world alone, because she couldn't stand up for him. Because she wasn't as strong as he was.

Sure, she wandered the forest in hopes of coming across the two, or another dragon to try and tame, but the gods hated her. Astrid was shocked that the tree her hand rested on hadn't erupted in red flames from their seething hatred.

"How hard is it to find a dragon?!" she shouted, aggravation seeping through her stress. Her hand left the scratched bark and introduced itself to her hip.

"Fishlegs!"

The other stood up rather quickly at the call.

"I thought you said we were on its tail!"

Fishlegs could only stutter.

"So where is the dragon?"

"Ma-maybe it flew off?"

Astrid shook her head as he examined the ground, right where the trail ended. "There aren't any gouge marks. You know that dragons have a habit of taking the ground with them!"

It was true – many dragons, especially the larger ones, like to curl their claws into the dirt when they took off, as it put their limbs closer to their bodies, thus gaining more altitude and speed quickly. Or, so Fishlegs claimed.

"Nightmare's don't just vanish, Legs," Astrid tried to lower has voice so the boy could stop cowering.

Fishlegs suddenly jumped and pointed to the ground. "It didn't! It turned here," he followed the leaf-crushed path of the dragon. "And..." h trailed off as he pointed to the sky, right to the direction of the setting sun – right to Berk.

"We have to get back," Astrid breathed, hand instinctively pulling out her axe. "We have to help the others!"

"What about taming one?"

Astrid looked to her axe and sighed. "If we can, then try it. If not, I'm not dying tonight."

The pair raced as fast as they could through the trees, but they had to pause as the beat of dragon wings covered the rest of the day's light. Astrid grabbed Fishleg's fur shirt and pulled him under the branches of a large tree. They both stared in the sky as a giant hoard of Nightmares, Zipplebacks, Nadders and Gronckles colored the once navy sky.

"Another raid," they both breathed as the dragons split off into smaller groups to attack from different angles. "A big one, too."

Astrid's eyes light up as she scanned the sky. "Hiccup could be up there!"

"What?"

Astrid turned and poked Fishlegs, hard, in the chest. "Keep this a secrat, or I'll cut off your lips."

"Okay!" he nodded fervently.

"Swear it on Odin."

"I swear on Odin to keep Astrid Hofferson's secret!"

She nodded once, face scared but determined. "Hiccup and I saw the nest."

"You...what?!"

She nodded. "Toothless took us there. These dragons only raid us because they have to. It's like a giant bee hive – they're the workers and they bring food back to their queen. She controls them."

"Queen?"

Another nod. "It's unlike anything we've ever seen before. If Hiccup is caught in this raid, he and Toothless may never come back – the Queen will eat the dragons if they don't bring enough food back." She stared at the silent teen for few seconds. "I'm telling the truth, Fishlegs."

"I know. It's just...Wow," Fishlegs breathed. "So Hiccup really was right. Everything we know about them, _is _wrong."

"Exactly. That's why it's up to us to change the village's mind."

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**Chibiyu: **_So this chapter, if you couldn't tell, was told in reverse order. Hiccup's section happened first, and then Astrid and Fishleg's section happened. More action and more on Stoic next chapter. Thoughts? Sorry about the long wait, it was midterm time. Until Next Update!_


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